“I think they’re preparing for life without Wes Welker,” King said. “I think if you look at the reality of this situation, Bill Belichick has always — I mean always — had the future in mind when he is trying to figure out how he is going to put his team into play for both the present and the future. All you have to do is look back at Richard Seymour. When you look back at Richard Seymour you realize in essence good players can be traded and can be gotten rid of.”

King was asked if he thought Welker would indeed be traded.

“I think it’s doubtful that they’ll trade him, unless they got a really good offer. But I think that nothing is impossible. What if some team comes to them and says, ‘We’ll give you a [second-round draft pick]?’ … What if you’re Belichick? You know you’ve only got him for, let’s say at that time, 12 more games. Is it worth it? If I were BIll, I’d strongly consider that. Because if you’re not going to have the guy around and you believe that Edelman is an adequate replacement, I would do that if I were them.”

Mike Freeman of CBS Sports wrote that he felt the Patriots were not phasing Welker out, but wanted to be sure Julian Edelman could fill his shoes if and when they parted ways with the pro bowl receiver.

The writing is simply on the wall.

Welker and the Patriots went through their contract dispute and couldn’t come to an agreement.

They have Brandon Lloyd and Edelman at receiver as they look forward in their future. Their base offense is built around the two tight ends anyway. Bill Belichick is moving on and doing it in the way that he feels suited.